Secrets of the Darkness and Light
by Zekkers
Summary: Wrote this awhile back, before OMWF- it's my take on how the gang might have found out that Buffy was in heaven. This peice could either be a stand alone, or continued.


Secrets of the Dark and Light

By Zekkers

Disclaimer: So not mine.

Summary:  This is my response to 'Afterlife', and shows how the gang might find out.  (As if no one else is writing about it either).  I wrote this before 'OMWF', so it qualifies as an AU piece.

-/-/-

The telly was flickering with light from the afternoon soap as Spike lifted another cigarette to his mouth, taking a drag into his useless lungs.  He had turned the sound down really low- vamp hearing more than made up for the difference, and he could listen to what was going on outside better this way.  

The cemetery was having a funeral today, putting some poor sod into the earth only ten plots over by the sound of it, and Spike didn't want to be disturbed by anyone attending the funeral who turned out to be a little too curious.

Then there was a gentle knocking on his door, and Spike blinked.  Buffy wasn't likely to be by yet, she had business to attend to.  Something about the house, she had said.  Who else would stop by?  He swallowed hard, before setting his jaw.  It better not be the witch.  He didn't really feel comfortable around her, considering what she had done to Buffy.

He got up, opening the door.  Xander Harris was standing there, looking over his shoulder, glancing around and down at the paper in his hand.  

He probably didn't want to be seen, not with the mourners in the graveyard.

The brown-haired man turned back to the door, obviously nervous.  Twitching, like a patient in a dentist's chair- just waiting for the pain.  "Spike," he whispered, "can I come in?"

Spike stepped back, and Xander slipped through.

"Like what you've done with the place."  Xander said, looking around.  "Very… vamp.  I like it."

"Thanks."  He sneered a little, "What is it?"  Spike felt frustrated with the boy, suddenly wanting him gone.

"Ahhh… Yeah."  The annoying boy was jiggling change in his pocket.  The sound was loud to Spike's sensitive ears.  It grated on his nerves, while the boy was just plain nervous.  "Yeah.  This isn't really a social call is it?"  Xander crumbled the paper in his hand, then smoothed it out, talking to himself.  "Cause even though we used to hang out this summer, that all changed when the Buffster came back.  Wasn't good enough anymore.  None of us are."

Spike growled a little.  He hadn't meant to be rude to Buffy's friends, but he couldn't stand to be social with them anymore, couldn't stand to sit around, mouthing pleasantries, couldn't stand to not scream at them horrible obscenities for what they had done to her.  Couldn't stand himself, for being grateful that they had done it.  That they had brought her back.  To him.  For that second chance.

Xander held out the piece of paper, letting Spike tear it from his hands.  Spike took a drag of his fag, growling, "What is this?"  Pale fingers plucked up the page.

Xander sighed.  "Spell.  I think.  I… need a translation."  The Harris boy was looking away, looking guilty.  "I… I'm worried.  I… Well, look.  Before we did it- before we brought Buffy back, I had questions.  I… had doubts.  I asked Willow, I said 'Is this the right thing to do?  Are we supposed to do it?'"  

Xander started to pace the crypt, swinging his arms, gesturing, not looking at Spike as the vampire scanned the page.  Spike looked up, noticing that the construction worker looked tense, like he was preparing for a blow.  

"I mean, this was big.  And dangerous.  I know… I know you talked about consequences.  I mean, I had even asked Willow about it, I asked before, you know.  Before we did it.  And… and… and… she said.  She said…" Xander had stopped, looking at the far wall.  Looking at the stone, tears in his eyes, still not looking at Spike.

"And?"  Spike gruffly asked, wondering at the spell in his hands.

Harris took a deep breath.  "She said she couldn't sleep at night knowing that Buffy might be trapped in Hell.  That… Buffy might be… well.  I agreed then.  And we all split up."  Xander sighed again.  "But… but later… I came up with more questions.  So… so, I called her.  And asked again.  Told her… that I was worried.  I mean- what if, what if Buffy was fine?  Dead, yeah.  But… but… good guys go to Heaven, don't they?"

Spike looked up, worry on his face.  Xander didn't notice, he was still talking to the wall.  "And… and Willow… she admitted that she had done a spell."  The young man gulped, voice low.  "To… figure out where Buffy was.  She… she said… that Buffy wasn't… in a good place.  So I agreed.  And… Buffy did say that she was… somewhere horrible."

Spike looked down again, noticing his hands were trembling.  He gulped, stunned as the thoughts circled his head.  '_A spell?  Red had done a bleeding SPELL?  And… screwed it up, and then these losers thought they had to drag her outta heaven?  That's why they did it?_'  Spike looked up, at the motionless back of the young man still staring at his far wall.

Suddenly, Spike felt tired.  Exhausted and drained.  He had been so angry, so furious with them when Buffy had told him.  Now, now he was just sad.  Such misguided, ignorant fools.  He sighed.  "Well, she did say she was in Hell."  The vampire said.

The young man nodded.  "Yeah.  That is the one, isn't it?  The spell Willow used?"

Spike looked down, looking over the Latin words, so painfully copied in Xander's messy scrawl.  "Yeah, mate.  Maybe."

"What, what does it say?"  Nervous.  The human was nervous- more than he usually was, even when fighting a big nasty.  And Spike would know, he had been around the human enough.

Spike took a deep breath, and then let it out in a rush.  "Tells where a soul went.  Tracks its passage to the otherworld."

"How?"  Somehow, it was desperately important that Xander knew.

Spike looked closer, re-reading the incantation, the notes the original caster had included.  His forehead scrunched up, even as the ice formed in his belly.  "It…" He looked up, "Where did you get this?"

The construction worker turned, eyes unreadable.  "I found it in one of Giles' old books.  The ones he doesn't let the witches use, the ones about black magic.  But Willow 'borrowed' a whole bunch of them, for her research this summer.  And Giles must have been looking the other way, because Willow and Tara have been using them all summer for coming up with spells against the latest threat.  And… and… I noticed that Willow used these little slips of pink paper for all the research she did for Buffy.  Yellow for anti-vamp, green for demons, pink for Buffy, and white for anything else.  This one was pink."

Xander nodded to himself.  "I'm not… really good at Latin.  But, I could tell that this was probably it.  And… well… the book had an English section.  Some industrious sorcerer last century made some notes."  He looked at Spike.  "How does it track the soul?"

Spike didn't know what to say, so he settled for the truth.  The boy would never know what it meant anyway.  "Tracks the soul by figuring out where the caster would go if they died.  Tells the caster if the soul went to the same place they're headed.  If the caster is bound for Heaven, an' if the spell says 'no', then the soul went to Hell.  If it says 'yes', then the soul went to Heaven."

The vampire looked the young man in the face, holding out the piece of paper for him to take back.  Inside, Spike was listening to the noises his demon was making as the ice twisted in his belly.  The demon was alternating between snarling and laughing, taunting the witch in his mind.  '_Think you're so precious and pure, little Red?  Think that you're fighting the good fight, that you're a good little girl?  Oh, you did this spell, didn't you?  And it told you that the Slayer was where you're not headed- she went somewhere else.  And that had to be Hell, didn't it?  Did you think that all that Dark magic wouldn't have a price, that it wouldn't taint you?  There's such a surprise waiting for you when you die, little witch, when you find out where you're going…_'

The mortal took the paper back, looking at it as he twisted the paper in his hands.  "Is it a hard spell?  Could Willow have messed it up?"  The human had to be sure.

Spike shrugged.  "Could have, dunno.  Red's gotten better."  And he silently added,  _'And darker…'_

A gusty sigh, and Xander was tilting his head back and forth, obviously still worried about something.  Then he gave a small smile.  "Gotta trust her, don't I?  We're on the same side, aren't we?"  He looked at Spike, something struggling behind his eyes.  "I've known her since we were five, I have to believe she did this right, don't I?"

Spike nodded.  "Yep.  You white hats stick together."  Then he tilted his head, and held out his hand.  "I could ask the Watcher for you.  He'd be able to tell."  Spike kept his face calm, but inside he was worried.  Why was Xander so upset about this spell?  It should be cut and dried for him now- Willow said Buffy was in Hell, and they got her out.  End of story.

"Giles?"  Xander gulped, suddenly distracted.  "He's… still mad about… it.  But…"  Indecision tore at the young man.

Spike pressed his lips together, thinking hard.  His demon was whispering again, talking about the possibilities.  '_I promised Buffy not to tell- but this isn't telling.  They have to figure it out on their own.  And warning them about the witch will get me more good-guy points.  Which will get Giles on my side when the Slayer finally realizes we belong together._' Out loud he replied, "I could talk to him, tell him your concerns."

Xander was looking at the paper, then held it out to the vampire again.  "Could you?  I… don't really want… to.  The G-man's still mad.  I mean…"

The blond nodded.  "I know, mate.  Ripper's not a bloke you want to mess with.  I tell him about everything you said."  Spike then leaned towards the human, letting his eyes get a little hard.  "And I'll make sure no one is listening in, either.  Especially not by witchcraft."

It was almost funny how the Whelp's eyes got large at that.  "But-"

Spike held up a hand, "Red won't like anyone doubting her skills.  Never has.  I'll be discrete about it.  I don't doubt her, I'm just saying…"  He let the idea hang in the air.

Xander's head bobbed up and down in agreement like a doll's, and the vampire just smiled back.  Spike stepped forward, grabbing the man's arm, leading him towards the door.  "I'll take care of everything, Zapper."

"Uh… thanks, Spike.  I appreciate it."  Xander replied.

Spike forced a smile on his face.  "Yeah, mate.  Look, I was quite upset with you lot for messing with black magic like that- I mean, I didn't want the Slayer back all twisted, you know?  But, she's fine, she just needs time.  If she doesn't need me to help her patrol, you want to play game or two of pool this weekend?"

"Sure."  The young man was surprised.  "Uh- if I can get away from Anya.  She's gone wedding crazy."

Spike nodded, the Slayer had told him about those two.  "Yeah, both of us are just at our women's beck and call."  He cracked the door open.

"Uh… yeah.  Uh… thanks again Spike."  And then the brunette was gone.

Spike stared at the now closed crypt door, thinking to himself.  '_And the whelp would be good to have on my side too.  He's chosen the Slayer over anything else before.  Once the fact that the witch isn't all roses comes to light, the 'Scobies' as a group are going to break into pieces.  And if I play this right, I'll be in with Buffy, Giles, and any of her other friends that side with the Slayer._'  Cold yellow eyes looked down at the paper in his hands, '_Of course, now we have a Black Witch to deal with._'

Spike looked up at the door again, '_And I'll have to figure out why Zapper was so worried about the Slayer.  Something must have made him suspicious._'  He shrugged to himself.  _'First things first though, I'd better figure out when to talk to the Watcher._'

End

PS  I have somewhere I could go with this, if anyone's interested.  Should I continue?


End file.
